Bring on the T cells

A HIGHLY experimental treatment has dramatically shrunk deadly skin cancers in several patients, all by knocking out natural immune cells to make way for an army of tumour-attacking cells.

Only 13 people have had the treatment so far and it hasn't worked for all of them. But it is already attracting attention as a potential approach against infectious diseases such as AIDS as well as cancer.

The treatment takes advantage of a subset of T cells, a major part of our immune system, which can recognise proteins that are rife in tumour cells. These T cells provide a natural protection against cancer. But if a tumour is too aggressive, the body can't make enough of them to cope.

In the past scientists have tried multiplying a patient's own anti-cancer T cells in the lab and then injecting them back in. But the cells dwindled in just a few days.

Steven ...

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